How to Find Any CEO Email Address

Finding a CEO’s email address is like having a tooth pulled at the dentist: it’s slow and painful, but has to be done.
Maybe you’re selling a product or service that the CEO themselves will use. Maybe you’re building out a new partnerships ecosystem and need senior executive support. Or maybe you know that the person at the top of the business food chain is going to play a big role in your buying committee.
Whatever your reason, being in touch with the CEO is going to make your life a lot easier – the hard bit is finding their email address in the first place.
Historically, finding emails has been a time-consuming part of the prospecting process. We’ve all gone through the pain of trawling a company website in the hope that an email address will be hidden somewhere or asking an EA to pass on the right details for the eighth time. Even if you do find something, there’s a real risk of it being out of date or inaccurate.
As sales professionals ourselves, the pain of this situation is exactly why we built Surfe. Our tools take away the pain of finding CEO addresses and replace it with a super-simple, super-quick process. Today, we’re going to walk you through it:
- The Pain Of Finding CEO Email Addresses – The Old Way
- The Easiest Way to Find CEO Email Addresses with Surfe
- Why Surfe Is the Best Option
- Real-Life Scenarios Where Surfe Shines
Tell your dentist to put their pliers away. Let’s get started.
The Pain Of Finding CEO Email Addresses – The Old Way
If you’ve ever had to search for a CEO’s email address before, we’re sure you’re familiar with one of the following three methods:
Manual Research
We’ve all been here before. You start off combing through your target business’s website, then take a look at the CEO’S social media presence, then resort to googling [NAME] + email address on the off-chance something will come up…it’s tedious, time-consuming, and more often than not, doesn’t work.
Manual research isn’t really something you can afford to do in 2025. Let’s be honest: none of us have the time (or, ahem, the patience) to spend hours searching the web for one email address. And as 9 in 10 companies use 2 or more lead enrichment tools to learn about prospects, you can’t risk missing out on the extra valuable information a tool brings – after all, you don’t want to go into an outreach sequence knowing less than your competitors do.
Cold Emails
This might look like emailing the CEO’s EA, or maybe one of their direct reports or a mutual contact, in the hope of getting the email address you need.
Here’s the thing: this might work, but you’re leaving your chances of success up to other people more than is necessary. 91% of outreach emails are ignored – and if it happens to you, you don’t know if it’s because the business is strict about gatekeeping contact details, or whether it’s worth your time following up.
Guesswork
A lot of company email addresses follow a pretty generic structure – but running through variations of [email protected] isn’t particularly efficient. There’s also a risk of getting the email wrong and your outreach bouncing, which harms your domain reputation and your future deliverability levels.
If your guesswork doesn’t, well, work, then you’ve got less of an opportunity to learn before you get on the phone. 42% of sales reps feel they lack enough information before making a call: make sure you feel equipped and you’ll stand out a mile.
The Result: Wasted Time and Reduced Effectiveness
The above ways of finding a CEO’s email address have two things in common: they waste time, and they’re ineffective.
These are two problems you really should try to avoid in today’s day and age – sales processes are more complicated than ever, and to keep your head above water you need to keep things streamlined wherever possible.
The Easiest Way to Find CEO Email Addresses with Surfe
Now, time for the fun stuff. Surfe was built specifically to help with all your email finding woes – and we’re going to show you just how quick and easy it is to use right now.
Surfe has two distinct tools, the Surfe App and the LinkedIn Chrome extension. Let’s run through some use cases for each one – with the help of our fictional sales professional, Bob.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Surfe
Coming up: three different situations, and how to use Surfe technology to streamline each of them.
Finding and Enriching CEO Profiles on LinkedIn
Bob knows exactly what company he wants to target and who the business’s CEO is. In this instance, the Surfe LinkedIn Chrome extension is going to be his best friend – it’s great when you need to find a single CEO’s email address nice and quickly.
Once you’ve got Surfe set up and connected to your personal LinkedIn and CRM (which takes 2 minutes – if that) here’s what you do:
- Navigate to your CEO of choice’s LinkedIn profile
- Click the ‘Enrich’ button to retrieve the CEO’s email address
And, er, that’s it. Told you it was easy.
Behind the scenes, Surfe uses waterfall enrichment technology to aggregate several databases until it comes up with an accurate email address. It checks and double-checks what it’s found, runs it through ZeroBounce to make sure it works, and then feeds it straight through to your CRM.
The whole process should be near-instant – and you can say seeya to wasting time checking your findings and manually transferring the data over to your CRM. Love it.

Advanced Search Features
In this instance, Bob knows the name of the company he wants to target but hasn’t found the CEO yet. So he heads over to the Surfe platform because Surfe’s 10 is the best thing to use here:
- Head over to the Surfe People Search tab
- Filter by the Company Name and Job Title
- Hit ‘Find Email’ next to the CEO’s name, and it’s done!
Or, perhaps Bob wants to find CEO email addresses in bulk, based on specific criteria like industry, location, or company size). Let’s say he wants to filter CEOs in the US sports industry. He’d head on over to Surfe People Search and:
- Filter by Job title
- Filter by Location
- Select the relevant profiles and click ‘Find Email’
Bulk Email Enrichment
If Bob uses Surfe filters to create a hyper-specific list that directly matches his ICP, he can enrich multiple CEO profiles directly from the list. All he needs to do is:
- Select all profiles at the top of the list
- Click ‘Find Email’
All the emails will feed straight through into his CRM. In other words, he’s found tens or even hundreds of accurate email addresses, in minutes.

Why Surfe Is The Best Option For Finding CEO Email Addresses
So there you have it. Surfe turns a previously long, tedious task into something that can be done in mere seconds or minutes. Use the tool as a regular part of your workflows, and you’ll enjoy:
Accuracy and speed: find verified emails in seconds, without second-guessing yourself or risking emailing a dud address.
Ease of use: Surfe integrates with your LinkedIn, so you can say goodbye to endless tab switching – which, as we all know, kills your flow of work.
Boosted productivity: sales reps spend 70% of their time on non-selling tasks. The more you can streamline these processes, the more time you’ll have to focus on building relationships.
Cost effective: say goodbye to using two or more lead enrichment tools. By aggregating the best data sources out there, having Surfe is like getting several tools for the price of 1.
Real-Life Scenarios Where Surfe Shines
Let’s put it all together: what does using Surfe look like for a sales professional, a business development executive or a recruiter or consultant?
Let’s say you’re a salesperson targeting CEOs in a niche industry, for the launch of a new product. You’d want to head over to Surfe People Search and filter by the industry you’re after (3D printing, for example) and by job title (CEO, obviously). You can narrow your search down a bit more – by annual revenue, company headcount, or location, to name a few. And that’s it – a long list of CEOs to pitch your new 3D printing product to.
Ok, what if you’re more on the partnership side of things? Say you’re a business development professional looking to build partnerships with CEOs, with the aim of mutual business growth. Maybe you’ve found a specific business that looks perfect: you have exactly the same ICP list, and think they’d be up for trading contacts and making intros. Surfe People Search is your best friend here; filter by specific company name and job title, and once you’ve found your target profile hit ‘Find Email’. Job done!
Or what if you’re a recruiter or consultant looking for new clients in, say, the UK Asset Management Market? Here, you’d use People Search and filter by Job Title (CEO), Location (UK), and Industry (Asset Management). If the entire list that Surfe pulls up looks good – which it probably will, tbh – then select all and click ‘Find Email’ to get the contact details you need in bulk.

Let’s Wrap It Up!
Your teeth are safe for another day – phew!
Finding CEO email addresses used to feel like pulling teeth, but thanks to the Surfe LinkedIn Chrome extension and the Surfe People Search tool you can find the contact details of just about any CEO out there.
Using a tool like Surfe is exactly what worker smarter is all about – you’re streamlining tasks that can be streamlined, making sure you’re working efficiently and accurately, and freeing up your time to focus on the actual selling bit.
Next up – who wants to share their tips for impressing CEOs?

You are so predictable.
We know exactly what you want to do next: try out Surfe. Hit the button below to get started.
FAQs About Finding CEO Email Addresses
How Can I Find A CEO’s Email Address Quickly?
Finding a CEO’s email address can be simple if you have the right tools. Manual research – trawling through websites or guessing email addresses – is time-consuming and often risks being inaccurate. Tools like Surfe let you find and verify email addresses in seconds. Surfe’s People Search tool lets you filter CEOs by company, industry, or location and get their details instantly – or use the Surfe LinkedIn Chrome extension if you have a specific CEO in mind, and just need the one email address.
What Is The Best Way To Verify A CEO’s Email Address?
The best way to verify a CEO’s email address is to use a tool with built-in email verification features. Surfe, for instance, uses waterfall enrichment technology to double-check an email address looks good, and then runs it through ZeroBounce to make sure they’re accurate and won’t bounce. Manual methods, like sending test emails, are unreliable and harm your domain reputation if they fail. With Surfe, you save time and protect your email deliverability while gaining confidence in your outreach.
Why Should I Avoid Guessing A CEO’s Email Address?
Guessing email addresses – like using formats such as [email protected] – might seem quick, but it’s risky. If your guesses bounce, it harms your email domain reputation, which can lower your future deliverability. Worse, guessing doesn’t ensure accuracy, so you could waste time emailing an email address that doesn’t exist. Tools like Surfe eliminate the guesswork by finding verified CEO email addresses in just a few clicks.
Are There Tools To Help Find CEO Email Addresses In Bulk?
Yes! Tools like Surfe are designed for bulk email finding. With Surfe People Search, you can filter profiles by job title (that is, CEO), industry, location, and/or company size and then enrich multiple profiles at once. Simply select the profiles you need and click “Find Email.” The verified email addresses are automatically added to your CRM, saving hours of manual data transfer.
How Does Surfe Ensure The Accuracy Of CEO Email Addresses?
Surfe uses waterfall enrichment technology to aggregate data from multiple trusted sources. It cross-checks the information and verifies email addresses through ZeroBounce to ensure they’re accurate and active. By integrating directly with your CRM, Surfe eliminates the risk of manual errors and outdated contact details. This process makes sure you’re only reaching out to valid email addresses, reducing the chance of bounced emails and improving your outreach success.